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30 October 2018

NCIS welcomes seven new members from four countries We extend a warm NCIS welcome to new members from the USA, France, Holland and Hungary. As well as their respective skills in anthropology, linguistics, recreation and tourism, religious studies, history and literary theory, between them they read, write and speak an impressive thirteen languages, both ancient and modern!

A specialist in nineteenth-century American history, Richard G. Williams Jnr
has published widely, especially on the American Civil War. His
extensive publications include journal articles, film credits and books,
and his forthcoming monograph A Great Deal of Good: The Work and Impact of Chaplains During the American Civil Waris to be published by Liberty University.

26 October 2018

Kenny G. Rowlette, 67, of Forest, went to be with his Lord and Savior on
Friday, October 26, 2018. He was a small town man from Berea, Ky. He
graduated from Berea College where he met the love of his life, Ann,
with whom he spent the last 47 years. He was a member of Thomas Road
Baptist Church since 1980 and an English professor at Liberty University
for 33 years. For the last five years, he worked at the Jerry Falwell
Library where he completed the work he was called to do. He had a love
for American history, especially of the Civil War period. He was a
special speaker at numerous organizations. He was the co-founder and
director of the Civil War Chaplains Museum. He was an honorary member of
the MOWW, a member of the Lynchburg Civil War Round Table, and was also
a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans as well as the Sons of
Union Veterans. He is survived by his loving wife, Ann Rowlette; his
daughters, Delanie Stephenson and her husband, Curtis, and Karen Beatty
and her husband, Ben; four grandchildren who were the lights of PaPaw's
life, Katie, Ty, Alex, and Jack; his sisters, Glenna Price, Colette
Ingram, and Melinda Rowlette; his brother, James Rowlette; his
father-in-law and mother-in-law, Roscoe and Joyce Edwards; and numerous
nieces, nephews, sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law. Services will be
held at the Old Thomas Road Baptist Church, Pate Chapel, on Monday,
October 29, 2018, at 2 p.m. with Pastor Jonathan Falwell officiating.
Friends may call from 12 to 2 p.m. prior to the service. Burial will
follow the service at Virginia Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers,
memorial contributions may be made to the National Civil War Chaplains
Museum at Liberty University or the American Heart Association. Tharp
Funeral Home & Crematory, Lynchburg, is assisting the family. To
send condolences, please visit tharpfuneralhome.com.

End of update.

It is with great sadness in my heart that I share with readers of this blog the sudden and unexpected passing of my colleague and friend, Dr. Kenny Rowlette. It was Kenny who first invited me to speak (several times) at Liberty University's long-running annual Civil War seminar and who invited me to serve on the board of trustees for the National Civil War Chaplains Museum.

He was a very dear friend, a true scholar of the American Civil War and one of the most humble, kind and accommodating persons one could ever hope to meet in this life. He was also a dear brother in Christ. Sadly, I had just planned a visit to the museum for next Friday as I was going to lead a homeschool group of kids and parents to the museum in Lynchburg and Kenny was going to serve as our personal guide. He was so excited that I was bringing a group for a visit. The museum would never have come to fruition without his dedication. I fear what may happen to it now.

A mutual friend told me a little while ago that Kenny passed away earlier today from an apparent heart attack at his desk while working. He would have wanted it no other way.

Kenny had ancestors who fought on both sides of the War Between the States and used to say he was an "SOB" - son of both. His optimism and humor will be sorely missed.

Like its cousin the public library, the
bookstore once connoted the posture of reflective quiet that digesting a
good book requires. No longer. Just try to find some quiet now. Since
my childhood in the 1970s, America has moved toward a louder and louder
public life. Here are some things that just weren’t there in decades
past: television screens in every hospital waiting room, at every gas
station pump, bank, and restaurant all inserting their messages at a
louder-than-necessary volume into your consciousness; music played at a
shattering volume in every shop; kids walking home from school blaring
music from a phone in the pocket; some other kid playing video games
wherever he goes.

We have lost all sense of aural
propriety. Even the big bookstores have fallen prey to this noisy trend
with their espresso machines, beeping registers, and background music.
There is now no refuge for a man seeking to escape the clatter and
listen to his thoughts alone. There is no refuge, except, of course, in
our little bookstore downtown. There, a man can sit. Usually, there’s
little music here, just the sound of muffled, cheerful conversation and
the rustle of pages.

25 October 2018

As we all know, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has retired. Kennedy was the deciding swing vote on a case that allowed, in the opinion of many, stealing private property. A case known, simply, as Kelo.

I already knew about this very bad and unjust decision, but a National Review piece regarding a film about the case brought it all back to mind. What a travesty. What a perfect example of corruption and elitism and why one should always react to "expert" opinions with a very critical eye. Most "experts" are funded by someone. Follow the money. This is true in science, academia, business, etc. But it is especially true whenever government is involved. Back to the NR piece and some money quotes:

Little Pink House, a devastating and important dramatization of
the efforts of New London, Conn., paramedic Susette Kelo (Catherine
Keener) to retain her house against the onrushing bulldozers of the
state. To see the movie is to take the red pill and be introduced to how
much deception, cynicism, and corruption underlie even seemingly
routine acts of government. Little Pink House should be viewed
by every teen and young adult who is in danger of confusing government’s
noble-sounding stated motives with its actual ones. [Emphasis mine.]

And . . .

an avatar of big-hearted American determination, a successor to the heroes of Frank Capra movies.

And . . .

“Social justice and economic development, they go hand in hand,” Wells
tells the citizens, justifying the massive injustice she is
perpetrating. . .

And . . .

shame most especially on Justices Ginsburg, Kennedy, Stevens, Souter,
and Breyer for affirming it in the Supreme Court, in a decision that
agreed with the government that a poor landholder could be forced out in
favor of a rich one because the rich one promised to provide more tax
revenue. Take from the poor to give to the rich: This is how Ginsburg,
Kennedy, et al. read the Constitution.

And . . .

At the end of the film we meet the real Susette Kelo, standing on an
empty lot where her little pink house was razed because of appalling
policy backed by outrageous jurisprudence. It’s half a generation later
and the Pfizer campus has still never been built. To the contrary, the
company shut down an existing office and left the city entirely, despite
the $80 million of subsidies the government lavished on it. The bare
land Kelo stands on, home mainly to feral animals and weeds, is a stark
illustration of what can happen to property rights when “leaders with
vision” find them inconvenient.

24 October 2018

Dismissing or outright denying a platform for dissenting points of view
does not sound particularly diverse. What's worse, it kicks away the
foundation of critical thinking. You may disagree with what people say,
you might even be personally offended. Yes, sometimes words and ideas
make us uncomfortable. But friends...there is actual hate speech and
there are ideas with which you disagree. Let's make sure we can tell the
difference. Simply rejecting those who fail to march to the tune of
one's personal ideology or responding to ideas with vitriolic rage
Tweeting is not particularly useful. This exercise only serves to
further exclude individuals from the broader conversation. ~ The Rogue Historian

13 October 2018

A new poll of likely North Carolina voters found that 70 percent
disapproved of protesters’ toppling of the Silent Sam Confederate
monument last month. (Source)

I've posted about this before. (See here, here and here.) The anti-monument protests seem to generate lots of heat, but very little light. As a matter of fact, the vandalism and protests may be having unintended consequences--at least in the minds of most Americans.

12 October 2018

In Lexington apprehension battled with hope. The doctors
remained confident, and Mrs. Lee talked of the time "when Robert gets
well," but in her heart she was haunted by the look that had come into his
eyes when he had tried vainly to answer her at the supper table and then had
sat upright. "I saw he had taken leave of earth," she afterwards
wrote. The superstitious whispered that his end was at hand because his picture
had fallen down from the wall of his house; and when a flashing aurora lighted
the sky for several nights some saw in it a beckoning hand. One Lexington woman
took down a copy of The Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers and pointed
significantly to this quatrain:

"All night long the northern streamers
Shot across the trembling sky:
Fearful lights, that never beckon
Save when kings or heroes die."

11 October 2018

I've just discovered a glitch in blogger not notifying me of comments on posts. I think I've caught up and posted those comments that were not posted over the last few weeks/months. I apologize. I was not ignoring readers' comments and I was not deleting them. It's just that I wasn't aware of them. Please keep reading and commenting. Your comment may not appear immediately but, if germane and civil, they will appear ASAP.(Blogger has been rather buggy as of late which is one of the reason I hope to move to the new platform ASAP. Thanks for your patience!)

10 October 2018

Kent Masterson Brown is one of the few prominent historians today who approaches his subject from a traditional perspective. From Kent's website:

Too few citizens of our great country know even the most rudimentary
facts about American History. It is hardly taught in schools, and, if
it is, it is often laced with the politics and “culture wars” of our
time. Consequently, our young people know precious little about even
the basic story of America. Such a lack of knowledge about American
History poses a peril to the existence of our Republic.

So glad to see this happen as it is so desperately needed. More here at the new non-profit's website. You can set up an account free of charge and watch four of their excellent documentaries at no cost. You may also contribute to the effort.

09 October 2018

Yesterday, we were honored to have a wonderful, well-attended entry in the Lee Chapel Fall Lecture series by Dr. R. David Cox, historian and professor at Southern Virginia University as well as longtime Lexington resident. It was a timely, engaging talk that invited excellent discussion and contemplation.

04 October 2018

I've participated in a number of online debates about the dismal state of American education these days. One of my frequent points is the *shameful performance of "experts" in a bloated, top heavy education system. Case in point:

Just a third
of Americans can pass a multiple choice "U.S. Citizenship Test,"
fumbling over such simple questions as the cause of the Cold War or
naming just one thing Benjamin Franklin is famous for. And of Americans 45 and younger, the passing rate is a tiny 19 percent, according to a survey done for the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.

Surprisingly, the poll found stark gaps in knowledge depending on age.
Those 65 years and older scored the best, with 74 percent answering at
least six in 10 questions correctly. For those under the age of 45, only
19 percent passed with the exam, with 81 percent scoring a 59 percent
or lower.

Surprisingly? I wasn't at all surprised. The demographic scoring the highest were, for the most part, educated in schools that had not yet been taken over by bureaucrats in Washington, universities and state capitols. Schools were, at that time, much more in the control of local citizens and parents ("non-experts"). Remember this the next time an "expert" talks down to you because of their "expertise" in education. Tell them to "follow the evidence"; which is what they claim to do - unless they don't like where it leads. Homeschooling, for example.

*As always, I fault politicians, bureaucrats and administrators for this state of affairs. There are many teachers doing the best they can within a system that is working against their best efforts. The proof is in the puddin'. Just follow the evidence.

Also, my family is heavily involved in education. My oldest daughter has a BS degree in history and is state certified to teach in Virginia. However, she has chosen to homeschool her 4 daughters. My next oldest daughter is a teacher in a private school. My youngest 2 daughters homeschool their children. My youngest son and his wife homeschool their 3 children. My wife and I homeschooled 4 of our 6 children and we were both active in local 4H clubs. I have street cred.

01 October 2018

I've had the privilege of speaking at a number of CWRT's in Virginia and have enjoyed each event. But I must say that the Rockbridge Civil War Round Table is undoubtedly the best - for a number of reasons:1: Longevity and consistency2: Venue/location3: Range of speakers and perspectives.4: Attendance

Consider their upcoming talks:

If you have the opportunity to attend any of these talks, you won't be disappointed!

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“Richard’s tone and style are reminiscent of the histories written in a bygone era; when historians like Freeman, Catton and Wiley would captivate their readers as much with their narrative as the history it contained.” ~ Keven Walker, CEO Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation

"Thank you for your . . . great support for this project. As always it was a pleasure to work with you on The Rebel Yell. You are a big part of Our Cause." ~ Mr. J.L.D. (Laurie) Woodruff, Executive Director and Editor, The Essential Civil War Curriculum

"Thank you for giving your time and expertise to lead the tour. As I mentioned to the group when we started today, the Civil War Sesquicentennial has been so successful in the Valley thanks to the generous work of people such as you. Today was another sterling example of that." ~ Terry Heder,Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation

"I am always encouraged by your energy and devotion to the many fine features and heritage of American life. Thank you! Your blog shines on like a beacon in the darkness." ~ David Corbett, Battlefield Balladeers

Handpicked as one “of the internet's best blogs and forums for students of Civil War history” by the Civil War Trust.

“Shenandoah Valley native Richard Williams maintains this lively blog with its focus on the Valley and its importance to the Civil War.”